Midland Railway Signalman's Association

The Midland Railway Centre is home to a unique collection of signalboxes originally built by the Midland Railway Company nearly a hundred years ago. The boxes are operated by fully trained signalmen who are all members of the MRSA (Midland Railway Signalman's Association). They are aiming to preserve the concept of semaphore signalling by keeping the boxes in working condition. Three of the signalboxes, situated at Hammersmith , Swanwick and Butterley are used to control trains on the railway using ETB and OTW(OES) regulations. Tyers No. 6 tablet instruments are used throughout. The ETB section is between Hammersmith and Swanwick with Butterley being a ground frame in Hammersmith station limits. Butterley frame is released by tablet supplied from Hammersmith through auxilliary tablet machines. This arrangement is, we believe, unique in preservation. There are 4 non-operating boxes on site; Linby Station box is used as a demonstration box; the box originally at Upper Portland is in store; The Desford Colliery Sidings box is used as an S&T store and the Linby Colliery box is used as Swanwick Station office. Come and see the boxes working every weekend at the Midland Railway Centre, Ripley, Derbyshire.

Becoming a Signalman

If you've ever fancied becoming a Signalmen you may be interested to browse through our Courses for Signalmen. If you haven't the time but would still like to learn more about Signalling you may find these fir the bill.

Latest News

New domain name. The Signalmen's association has it's own domain name. http://www.midland-railway-signalmen.org.uk/

Pleased be warned though, the web site is still under construction and will take some time to complete.

Link Lines

The Signalbox: If you haven't visited this site yet, do so NOW! It's brilliant. A true Signalman's delight. Free cuppa also provided. Don't forget to sign the Train Register.

RailServe: The Internet Railroad Directory - Over 1,500 rail-related links, search engine, forums, railfan chat rooms, and more!

PC-Rail. - Try your hand at the best Signalling Computer Simulations. Power Box and Traditional Mechanical signalling.